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Car Guy Coffee & DriveCentric presents “Live at Drive for #DC20” feat. Shean Kirin

Car Guy Coffee & DriveCentric presents “Live at Drive for #DC20” feat. Shean Kirin

Car Guy Coffee May 30, 2024 16 min
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About this episode

Excitement fills the air at the Drive for #DC20 event as Shean Kirin from Dealer Alchemist shares insights on innovative automotive solutions. The conversation highlights the importance of website speed, user experience, and adapting to new technologies in the automotive industry. Shean emphasizes the need for dealers to evolve their practices and embrace change for better results. The episode features engaging discussions on accountability, inspiration from other speakers, and the significance of a strong online presence for dealerships. It's a blend of practical advice and motivational stories that aim to elevate the automotive business.

Topics: website speed user experience technology adoption dealer engagement marketing strategies innovation in automotive accountability inspiration from speakers
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Hello, and welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast for the DC twenty Unlocked series, brought to you by drive Centric. For more information or to get
signed up for the next DC twenty event, go to drive centric dot com.
Let's prove what's going on car Guys and Cargais and Stevenmirez the car Guy sprellon Art's Subprime Hero and we have brewinged solutions on the cargag Coalby podcast, and we have another genius inside of the room with us who's ruined solutions and having fun at this DC twenty Unlocked hot to help us out, Help us out. Everybody, tag a car guy, tag a car Galt share.
Get this out there, folks, because this is gonna be a good one.
One thing I love about our guests right here, and we're gonna do a huge announcement. A second is that he's been in here excited about his
product all morning long. He's been excited to show everybody what's going on,
and people are loving what he's putting down man, and he's doing some unique things. He's definitely trying to make it different for people. So I'm pumped
up for you. I'm pumped up that we have you on the show and
folks get ready for some great information. But he's excited. He is with
dealer alchemist and man, they're doing some big things. You guys have seen
some people from de Lacymus on the show in the past, and you guys know a little bit about this product. But we got the man behind the
product right here with us. So we're pumped up about that. Yes,
the one, the only shine Caring. Let's go to the kind of stop
him from a demo and just throw him onto the show. Group. So,
how has this DC twenty been for use? It's been amazing? Okay,
yeah, I love it. It's gathering a professionals trying to get better,
helping each other. It's exactly what you want out of this kind of
thing. Heck yeah, and how many DC twenties that you've been to?
This is my second, this is your second? Is awesome? So this
one, this one to the last one, would have been a part that stepped out to you about this particular. I think, just like with anything
else, everyone's trying to be better. The guy that the people at Drive
Center trying to be better. The dealers are highly engaged. I think maybe
it's the adjustment of the market. Things were a little bit different in October.
It seems a little bit since now and so, yeah, the dealers are highly engaged. People are asking questions. They're looking at how do I
make adjustments? How do I make changes? What is the best way for
me to improve some more cars, adjust my advertising, get better ROI It's it's perfect. I love it. It's a cup of tea. Something about
them that you just enjoyed, maybe my cup of coffee. Yeah, that's
what I'm talking about. I like that much better way to pick up what
we're putting down. And I love that speaking our language. But folks,
the language that he speaks is binary, right, And I love that.
Because there's a lot of great things that are going on your website that you don't realize. It isn't just plug and play. These things are built and
they're made to be functional. They're made to be fast, so customers have
a much better experience. And today I saw you doing some really cool stuff.
The video uploads were like instantaneous. The shifting and the way that you
were able to pull up different things was really nice. You showed us a
couple of Toyota websites. So tell people a little bit about what's hot and
what's going on right now. As in January, right before in Ada,
we announced the acquisition of the autogo website platform. Let's oh, and so
people knew it his dealer Venom previously, and so auto goo is a Toyota proof website provider. And there's some things that it does that are pretty incredible.
First, it's the fastest page speed load time of any website out there.
Second, highest lead conversion, third, and probably the most important, ninety seven point three percent of support tickets get closed the same day, most of them with the dealer on the phone. So imagine that you needed to
I don't know, adjust your buttons right, I don't know, make a change, maybe you re order your BDB. Yeah, And imagine if they
said, okay, let's just do that. Well here with you on the
phone and refresh it and show you live what it looks like so you can inspect the change. What would that be like for a dealer? Certainly a
lot better than waiting five or seven days. I agree with you on that
to at least have the conversation start right, the ticket gets started, and then we'll never really actually talking about the problem. Then you had to wait
for it to yeah, and then you get a subpar solution. Right,
So everything is done almost all of the same day. So what I love
about these guys is when they're the president of that company. His name is
Jude. And so when Jude went to start this company eight years ago,
he and I were friends, and so I was giving him his first contracts and saying, hey, let me give you some works so you can get out and get self employed, because I remember when I started then it was hard. Right if we give some lean years when you start, like,
that's how that works, right, And so fast forward, we talked to him about acquiring the company that with Jeff Clark. Jeff said, hey,
I'd said I didn't want to be in the website space, but I want to be in the website space. Next thing, we're talking to Jude.
Next thing you know, we're here, and all of a sudden, advertising, best in class, website, best in class advertising pair together. It's
going to be a good year. Oh man, I can see how excited
you are, and you should be. I think that if we rest on
our laurels, we're going to just get back. But if we start to
look for ways to evolve, be better, be stronger, team up with other companies, acquire other companies, use use information, and used software together to be able to give our clients an even better experience. How could you
not be successful. That's when we sit there and we just hope that what
we have works forever. It's if I had an iPhone seven and I'm still
using it, is it really even worth being used right now? It still
can make dials, but for what I wanted to do it it's not even updating anyone. So it's like time to upgrade your your life, upgrade your
business, and do big things. But at the same time team up with
other people while you're doing it, which is beautiful. You're helping one person
by helping yourself, by being your clients, by helping everyone. So it's
a beautiful thing. Nice ecosystem in there. Let's get them better, right,
It's all getting better. Like we have a vision that we care about.
Our vision is to innovate advertising and automotive. It is everything we talk
about every day. It's everything we do every day the entire company, every
single person from the top all the way to our lowest level admin person.
They know what the vision is. They know that it's about making things better.
They know, it's about taking care of the dealer. Imagine support people
that actually answer the phone when you call. What would that be like they
do that? Yeah, I heard a rumor. I heard a rumor about
that. I heard that too. It Yeah, so that's what it's all
about, And yes it is, and that's why these events are so good.
Inside of that, a lot of technical stuff, a lot of technology that gets discussed, a lot of banks and knows that everybody's jumping inside of the different sessions to people to learn from. But inspiration is a big thing
too. You've had the chance to drop the microphone a little bit, do
a little bit of talk to yourself. What have you enjoyed about the other
speakers that have had the chance to speak? What kind of stuck out to
you? Out of that lineup? We had some all stars here. This
particularly funny should have been here. Yeah, I gotta tell you so.
Danella, of course was spectacular. She's amazing, right, she alone was
worth the price of admission. But Glenn, good old Glenn Lundy right.
I think one of the best things he talked about was this story about how we do things the same way over and becaus over and over again, because that's why we've always done them. And he told the story about how they
had this roast in this family that his wife and she cut the end off and talked about how that makes it more moist. And his dad said,
that doesn't make any sense to me. Why would we do that? And
so he talks to her mom, who said they did the same thing.
They talked to her mom and did the same thing. They talked to his
mom's mom and she said, we cut it off so that it would fit in the oven. Because and ultimately, I think as dealers, that is
what we do, right. We do the same thing because we're comfortable with
it. I've got this advertising relationship and these guys have been good to me
for twenty years. My question is where did they ever have to innovate and
come up with new technology to change the game. And we are in a
technology world last time I checked, as we are, right, Whereas when, of course, shameless self plug right, maybe I'm allowed to, I don't know. But you can plug as much as you want, plug it
all, plug it in, plug it that even better? Right? But
with technology we can drive a better result. And so the thing is I
think Glynn hit the nail right on the head. Now is the time to
ask questions. Now is the time to dive deeper. Now is the time
to look for accountability. We had a show of hands. I was asking
dealers out there in all of these sessions, how many of y'all had your best February ever. You can imagine there weren't a lot of hands up right.
We had a new dealer that just launched was up eleven percent in the first month February over month, year over year. They asked how, it's
because we're paying attention to the details. So I was telling a story myself
and it had just fed right along. I just couldn't help myself because what
one was talking about. I was so inspired. And ultimately, we've got
to choose what our heart is. Right. Everything is hard. Nothing in
life is easy. It's either hard in the beginning because you choose to make
the hard choices, ask the hard questions, dive in deep, hold your vendor accountable, or you get a hard result that's much more difficult to live with. And I thought we all came to the car business because we did
like to get paid too. Some big percentage of why I'm in this industry
is I definitely love the pay, There's no doubt because it's the potential is unlimited. A degree. You don't have to have some special educ people.
You can love cars, you can love results, you can be motivated, and the people in the car business are amazing. They're some of the best,
some of the best. I had somebody sit down this morning, my
very first interview that was a ex heroin jat addict was incarcerated multiple times.
Was the statistic that says that would never be successful, would never make money, will always be looking and stealing and cheating and doing all those things.
Yet he's a married man that has lived a great life, is now speaking to other people about his experiences. He is now hiring people who've been through
what he's been through and coaching them to become better in their lives. That's
phenomenal and that's what automotive does. Automotive we accept all. We accept people
who want to work. If you want to come in here and you want
to make an impact, we got you, We want you. I'm gonna
tell you, I will take somebody like that over talent education all day long.
Now, don't get me wrong, I will double check a resume that has a college to create. Well, this is pretty interesting. Are a
committed person. But at the same time, that doesn't mean everything. What
I'd love to see is somebody who wants more than they had yesterday. If
they want that, I know that I can help them get there. So
that's awesome stuff. Brother. And paying attention to details, my friends,
is key. And having the right website and having the right marketing for that
website and having the right marketing for your dealership makes all the difference. But
really knowing where it's going makes a big difference too, And that's why you got to team up businesses like dealer Alchemists, people like the high that were in here earlier, and so many others Glenn Lundy eight hundred percent, the certified solutionaries that come in there and make sure your dealership is doing all this stuff. And that's what we do. But at the same time, it
all starts with your number one showroom. I think, I think that you
have to have a great website. But if your website is not functioning at
a place that where majority your customers start shopping and pretty much all of them, then it's not going to be a really good stop for them. They're
gonna look out elsewhere. It's no different than if your lot was empty and
nobody greeted them when they pulled on the lot. Same idea that or they
get overwhelmed when you pull on the lot. So you got to make sure
that you have the right website for that that functions right, has the right amount of clicks for people to get where they want to go, be able to load videos extremely quick, be able to see the inventory like this in a way that they want to, and also have an option for them to be able to click it. So, folks, there's so much to it
than just having a website. You don't just have to have a dot com
to be able to be that's where it starts. But fixing it and making
it right and then marketing it correctly and having tools, pixels and all these different things that make it stronger and for you to be able to know what's happening and what's going on in your website is huge. Pixels is like having
a sales manager. That's a sell a floor manager. That's how I look
at it, right, So anyway, it's a good stuff, man, I know, Lou's got some them on that too. There's a lot that's
ruined in the conversation of making sure that your website does get the attention that it needs. That definitely isn't a set of debt, especially as vital as
your website. It is your umber one sales and you definitely need to reach
out to the solution areias if you want to just see if you are functioning the way that you should be functioning or you have the capacity to do so the technology is available. What do you say to everybody out there watching,
listening, whether on the replay or on the or on the podcast when it comes to being open to the new technologies that are here, because a lot of technologies that maybe have been demoed before are not even relevant to a lot of dealers. Now, right now is a critical time in technology that,
wow, we have to think of the litter we do right now? What
do you say to those that are on the front for expanding their technology pools.
I'd say, first things first, let's think about the fundamentals. You
don't go to an Apple website and find all the white space cluttered with random information. The white space is supposed to be there for a reason. So
if I was going to give you some fundamentals. The fundamentals would be Number
one, website speed matters. So if you're looking at seven hundred different pop
ups and all this random stuff on your website, and everyone's got a script on it, and it takes fifteen seconds to get your page loaded, you've already blown half your traffic. There you go. So number one page speed
time. Number two cleanliness, right, not too many buttons, less is
more right, and then number three control the experience. Right. Be sure
that what we're doing is being smart and testing and using data to make a decision. One of the things that happened in the session yesterday someone said to
me. They said, hey, Sean, I just took all of my
buttons off of my SRP. Do you think that's a good idea. I
have an opinion. My opinion is I don't think that it is. But
I said, let's look at facts. Let's not look at my opinion.
Why don't we test it and see. Let's test it because you're gonna see
at the end of a couple of weeks, at the end of the month, and you're going to know. Wouldn't you rather know and make a decision
based on facts. So I think that's what the technology is all about.
Like in websites, for example, you got to see the new templates right, The Autogo Toyota three point zero templates are gorgeous. Imagine a video slider,
not just a regular slider, but videos that load instantly, so there's no page speed load time with offers attached. Imagine a clean website where you
instantly get into search or real time searching. So you type black navigation,
it automatically while you're typing, cuts up the black navigation vehicles. You have
an inventory like these are the type of things that are real. We're in
advertising right now. You can put your vehicle in front of the eyeballs of
every single person in market looking for it. That technology exists. We don't
need to advertise to the shotgun anymore. Right, We got a sniper rifle
and it works better in the cost less boom, and it's way more effective in the customer experience is way better. That's right, My goodness. I
love what you're talking about here, brother, and I can go on for hours with you, I could tell, but I know your time is valuable.
I know you want to go out there and show more people, what's going on. I want you all to know the best way to get a
demo on this is to go to this website, set yourself up for a quick demo. Demo. Demo will change in life. Man. I'm telling
you, you should demo as many products as possible. Even if you have
a good product in there, a good website or good marketing company, go demo anyway to see what the differences are and see what maybe your company could do better, or maybe they're doing great and you're like, you know what, I got a great product. So always inspect what you expect. My
friends, by looking through other people's demos, it's fun. Demos don't take
law, and most of the time they're so excited to show to you that it's not a big deal. It's not like you're gonna get pressured. You're
not gonna feel weird. You're just gonna feel educated and empowered when you leave.
So reach out to Sean and his team. I promise you you won't
regret it. We appreciate you so much for coming on the show today.
Man, But before we get out of here, you know what we do.
We gotta drop the f BO. Got to make sure that we forgive
focus and fly if you had a bad demo before, we give focus and see how you can fly together. Right, We got a couple of users.
Facebook user said ignore Sean, good to see you. Great message in
here. Hope all as well. Let's let's connects. Thank you for joining
us on YouTube. Appreciate that, thank you, thank you for tuning in
and Facebook users saying what's up? What's up? Appreciate or chat lady whoever?
I don't know? All right, so person, thank you for joining
us. Facebook user, so thank you. You can jump in with us.
Everybody and Sean help us out. We're gonna get our hands on our
shoulders. We're gonna get focused and fly together on three one two three,
forget it and key growing. That was Brian Maxwell. Shout out to Brown
Maxwell, another great trainer out there doing big things. Appreciate you, brother
wise man right. Yes, it is love content and the just the far
guy that he appreciate you, no doubt about it, and human appreciate you now you have with us and all of you that are watching, stay tuned.
There is still more into Bruis coming over here live at Drive Centric Headquarters for DC twenty. I'm Loupama resident far Guy, and I'm frolling our sup
time Hero Talk the podcast. He's the one, the only shine can that's
right. Thank you, I appreciate you, brother, Thank you all.
We'll see you guys soon

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